Four-dimensional topology

Oleg Viro • Stony Brook University

The first meeting will take place on February 16.

The course will review the topology of 4-dimensional smooth manifolds together with other closely related objects, like smooth surfaces in the 4-space. In topology of manifolds, the dimension 4 is special: it is either too small or too high. Many fundamental problems, which have been solved in other dimensions long ago, still stay wide open. Starting from the early eighties, a chain of breakthroughs, based on introducing of new powerful tools, keeps this area one of the most active research domains.

We will overview, first, the results and compare them to parallel results in other dimensions. Then we will concentrate on a few technical approaches and problems with a potential of forthcoming development.

Additional information as well as updates on the schedule may be found here.

This lecture course is a part of the thematic program “New Trends in Topology“.
If you plan to attend lecture courses of the thematic program please register.